"To get rich is glorious." -- Deng Xiaoping. This is perhaps the smartest thing ever uttered by a member of the Communist Party.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

More health care news

Remember how a huge driving force behind the need for health care reform was to reduce costs to the government and save money in the long term? Well, the Congressional Budget Office is currently projecting no net savings from the legislation being debated. The Washington Post's take is perhaps even more pessimistic.

Conventional Lasik eye surgery costs a third of what it did ten years ago. And there has been virtually no inflation in the prices of cosmetic surgery, even though there have been enormous technological advances, and the demand for these procedures has increased sixfold since the early 1990s.

Special hospital facilities in India, Thailand, Singapore and elsewhere that engage in medical "tourism" have infection rates a fraction of those found in most U.S. hospitals. These positive results are driven by the fact that patients write the checks and are thus fully conscious of the costs, as well as by the fact that providers are under pressure to make their offerings more enticing and affordable.

The marketplace works -- let's try it.

Update: Click here for a chart from the CBO that ought to concern everyone.